Level one difficulty

[AirAux]

A couple of new members are complaining or questioning the length and time needed to complete the Level one on line.  Any discussion on this?  We used to do this in 4 hours with coffee and donuts..  Seems to be discouraging new members.  I also noticed the new basic cadet protection class is kind of overdone, repetitive, and almost insulting in presentation. 

[Tim Medeiros]

My new members have offered no complaints about the length or content of the level 1, both the online and in-person portions.

[MacGruff]

Since the new Foundations program started, I probably did the mentoring on at least a dozen new Senior Members. With the new Cadet Protection module, I've done maybe three. No complaints received by me.

As someone who did his Level 1 before there was any mentoring involved, I can tell you that I consider the new overall program an improvement:
*   It creates a focus for the new SM as to who s/he should be asking questions.
*   There is a clear expectation from me (as the PDO) that they should be progressing every week. While they can do the online stuff at their own pace, there is an expectation of continued progress. If not, they get to chat with someone about what is stopping them.
*   Many SMs have NOT come from prior military background and find some of the things we do to be "funny". This is a relaxed way for them to be educated on the whys and hows
*   I do not push any particular pace on the new SMs so they have no way of comparing it to anything previous. If they think it's too slow ... well, it's Ok by me that they accelerate! 

*   for the CPBT Summary Conversation, I've found it to be more effective with three to five new seniors for the questions and discussions. That is not required, I know, but is a practice that seems to work well for us. That does mean that some new SMs have to wait a week or three before there are enough people to have the conversation though. We keep them busy in the meantime in reviewing what Specialty Qualifications or Specialty Tracks they will want to contribute to by reading the appropriate CAP Pamphlets.

I, personally, would prefer that we "pipeline" cadets and seniors as the latter would make it less repetitive for me, but our Squadron decided not to.

[Capt Thompson]

As someone who went through Level I in 2001, and again in January, it was definitely a lot more work than the previous version, but then a lot has changed. Even with more modules, I think it only took me a couple days of hard core reading and testing to get through all of the Level I modules. When I came back, we had 2 other new SM's in our Squadron, one a returning member (former Maj) and the other a new member. Both of them completed the modules in under 2 weeks and didn't seem to have much trouble.

The mentoring took a bit longer, but was worthwhile, especially for someone coming in with no CAP or Military experience.

If a member is complaining about the amount of work for Level I, what's going to happen when they get to OBC for Level II?

[SeanM]

As a newbie who's only been in for a bit over a year, I personally don't see anything wrong or off-putting about the current Level I training.  Joining CAP should be a commitment on the prospective member's part, and that's something that should be reflected in the training.  Having done SLS, OBC, and CLC, I would also agree that if they are complaining about the Level I training, they're in for some real disappointment when it comes to the later levels.

My wife is getting ready to start her Level I training.  I'll see how she does with it, and get her feedback.  She's not nearly as "military" minded as I am, but she wanted to join CAP to help out with the cadets, fundraising, and recruiting & retention.  It will be interesting to note how she sees the Level I training.

Sean

[Capt Thompson]

I think the biggest thing is to set clear expectations when we're having our initial discussions with new Seniors. If a new Senior is given a full understanding of the training requirements, and has a problem with it, that would be something the membership board should consider. Pushing someone past the membership board and allowing them to join, only to have them complain that the work is too hard is a failure on the part of the membership board.

[jeders]

A couple of new members are complaining or questioning the length and time needed to complete the Level one on line. 

If they can't stand that, how do they expect to make it through all of the other training requirements.

We used to do this in 4 hours with coffee and donuts.

Which is probably why the material and delivery is much more standardized now. I'm not criticizing you or the way your unit did the training when you joined, but I know of many that would pencil-whip a lot of this stuff which just ends up causing headaches and problems for others downstream.

[a2capt]

The current online format is an improvement over the past, I've not encountered much kvetching about it, though locally there's been talk of going back to the weekend day class where a lot was covered in two four hour blocks.

[ProdigalJim]

I'm generally not a fan of using online courses to instill culture or shared ideas. For teaching math, it's great; for getting people to buy in, I think something's lacking.

But personally I welcome the extra work, and think it's important. Maybe the reason we have had problems with Lt. Goober making us look stupid is because SM Goober was never properly brought into the traditions and cultural norms as he or she should have been.

[The14th]

If they think Level 1 is "long" or "hard" they are really going to enjoy OBC.

[SeanM]

I'm generally not a fan of using online courses to instill culture or shared ideas. For teaching math, it's great; for getting people to buy in, I think something's lacking.

But personally I welcome the extra work, and think it's important. Maybe the reason we have had problems with Lt. Goober making us look stupid is because SM Goober was never properly brought into the traditions and cultural norms as he or she should have been.

:clap:  Couldn't agree more.

Sean

[Holding Pattern]

As a RPG gamer, I just have to say that seeing people complain about the difficulty of level 1 brings up a completely different set of thoughts in my mind

On topic, I have to say that I finished L1 a bit over 12 months ago I think (or was it 24? Time flies...) and it wasn't terribly difficult. That being said, I used to be a cadet and so I'm kinda used to many of the CAP foibles...